Hampshire Police appear to be performing well, according to government figures.

The Home Office report looks at how forces cope in five broad areas - reducing crime, investigating crime, promoting public safety, use of resources and public satisfaction.

Forces are compared on a like-with-like basis rather than ranked in national league tables. For instance, Hampshire is compared with Avon and Somerset, Essex, Kent, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Thames Valley.

The county performs better than average for reducing crime, with fewer burglaries, vehicle crimes and robberies per 1,000 dwellings. It also scores well, says the report, on investigating crime, with 25% of offences detected compared to an average 21% and a conviction rate of 24% against 20%.

Just over half Hampshire residents think the police are doing a good job, compared to an average of 47%.

However, the number of working days lost through sickness and public fear of crime is on par with the counties with which Hampshire is compared. In future, more indicators will be introduced to cover performance in other areas such as violent crime and anti-social behaviour.

Hampshire Chief Constable, Paul Kernaghan, welcomed the move by the Government to publish more data.

"We recognise the limitations of this developing technique but, nevertheless, feel the more information available to the public, the better.

"In the light of the recently-announced council tax precept increase, this objective assessment of our performance is particularly well timed.

"It is pleasing to note that the hard work of officers and support staff is reflected in a performance profile which highlights our success in reducing and investigating crime."